Herb Ruhs: My response to ‘Marx For Bobos?’…

The rule of conquest, the basic operating system of this world for the last five thousand years or so, states that more is the result of taking from others. It is the rule of radical individualism promoted by sociopathic thinking, which, in turn, is promoted by actual sociopaths, who’s brains are wired without a conscience, who prosper and take control of the machinery of competition the better to prey on the weak who actually have our brains wired to allow for a conscience. For those for whom this is a new idea, please read The Sociopath Next Door.

No sustainable culture can successfully tolerate the elevation of these mental defectives to positions of power. The remarkable thing of our time is that the destruction and collapse routinely caused by the assumption of power by this segment of the population is now affecting the entire world rather than isolated cultures. Rome reduced much of the world under its control to a state of collapse, socially and environmentally. But this is true of all expansionist cultures which are all ruled by sociopathic individuals who transfer their diseased attitudes to the general culture and precipitate collapse. Only bottom up, complex and evolving systems of governance, sans ruthless competition, have any track record of sustainability. Marx and the early anarchists understood this fact of nature but remained under the spell of a fundamentally sociopathic world view. All institutions that include competition between individuals for positions of power and authority are sociopathic at their core. That most assuredly includes the academic world that is blinded by its own ambitions.

At this point in my standard rant the libertarians begin to think that I am one of them. I am not. If anything my thinking is much more radical. I am a radical communitarian. Sorry.

This article, good as far as it goes, ignores biology, human and otherwise, and therefore is lost in the weeds of naval gazing. There is plenty of scientifically founded information to support a communitarian viewpoint, but it is uniformly distasteful to the radical individualist mode of thought that dominates currently and is studiously ignored by the overeducated.

Out of the rubble of our sociopathic institutions will come those who return to biologically healthy modes of thought. Science is the worship of testable hypotheses. Sociopathic thinkers use scientific results when it suits them and ignore science when it doesn’t and always want to twist scientific thinking to do their biding. Misunderstanding Darwin is a good sign of sociopathic thinking. Evolution is a series of answers to problems presented by our environment. For the solitary species one might say that radical individualism is that answer. For social species like ourselves radical individualism is a disease.
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In the movie ‘Touching the Void’, about the British climber who was left for dead by his climbing partner, who with a broken femur and rib injuries crawled for 4 incredible very painful days to make it back to base camp on his own pure will, only then to find that his possessions had been burned up, said when asked why he endured such pain and did not just give up replied:
“i could think of no worse fate than to die alone”. Truly, no man is an island.

The ‘Save the Planet’ folks have to rethink their message. The planet will still be here, she’s got billions of years of longevity to attest to that fact.

Yet the Life that lives off of her graces, as hundreds of species go extinct each day, with Mankind treating Her solely as a sewer and supply house, now that begs the real question.

If Man were to go ‘away’ due to his own ignorant follies and devices, would all other life then be able recover and flourish in abundance and balance?

Are we making that decision by collective default by not altering behavior when presented with such overwhelming evidence of Mans brutal impact on the environment that sustains all Life?

“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”
Chief Seattle

Misspent Youths – 1970 | Washington, DC Presidential Memo recorded by Bud Krough The president mentioned that he thought Presley could reach young people, and that it was important for Presley to retain his credibility. Presley responded that he did his thing by “just singing.” He said that he could not get to the kids if […]

Following the release of a new USDA report titled “Trends in U.S. Local and Regional Food Systems,” food blogs erupted earlier this month with provocative headlines like “Are Farmers Market Sales Peaking?” and “Has the Farmers Market Movement Peaked?”

Agroecology means that we stand together in the circle of life, and this implies that we must also stand together in the circle of struggle against land grabbing and the criminalization of our movements.

The EPA has been unable to collect the data it needs from the multibillion dollar oil and gas sector, which has stymied a five-year federal study.By Neela Banerjee Can fracking pollute drinking water? The Environmental Protection Agency embarked in 2010 on what was intended to be a definitive study to find out. The answer could prove critical to future U.S. […]

In the last two weeks, the industry has faced oil train accidents, a refinery explosion, a science scandal, Obama’s veto of the Keystone XL and more.By Elizabeth Douglass So far, 2015 has not been good to the oil industry. In just the last two weeks, the bad news included two fiery oil railcar accidents, a refinery explosion, a scandal involving an industry- […]

The agency's budget represents an almost invisible slice of the federal pie.By Katherine Bagley The Environmental Protection Agency has been accused of everything from running this country to waging an economy-destroying war on coal. But it turns out the GOP's prime target isn't that big after all. The agency's budget represents an almost […]

If the EPA is forced to impose a federal plan, it's going to limit options and be bad news for customers in that state.By Naveena Sadasivam Since the Obama administration announced its plan to cut carbon dioxide emissions and combat climate change last year, many states have been on the offensive. Some have sued the Environmental Protection Agency, argu […]

Colorado State Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt is no stranger to saying ignorant things, but his latest tirade is incredible. Not only does he accuse Craig Stephen Hicks of killing three innocent Muslim students because he was an atheist -- a claim which is completely unfounded -- he says that Hicks killed the Muslims because they were acting like Christians:

You can't tax Ken Hovind, because that's like taxing God.Pensacola evangelist Kent Hovind, known as Doctor Dino, has long maintained that all of his ministry's finances and property belong not to him, but to God, and that the Almighty's belongings are not subject to humanity's tax laws.Hovind is on record as saying that"Some wil […]

Idaho State Sen. Steve Vick (R-Of Course) has a bad case of Hinduphobia.Later today, the Senate will open with an invocation from self-proclaimed Hindu leader Rajan Zed (who has been mentioned on this site before).But not if Vick (below) has his way:

The Catholic League's Bill Donohue has a new book out today called The Catholic Advantage, all about how great it is to believe as he does.It's not enough, however, to promote Catholicism. Donohue spends a huge chunk of the book talking about how awful atheism is. In fact, here's the bulk of the book in a nutshell: Donohue claims that atheists […]

Small is beautiful, when small is skilled and dedicated. ~Gene Logsdon→

I've observed that people tend to live at one of two extremes in the spectrum of life: those who live on the edge, and those who avoid the edge. Those who live on the edge are hanging out in the most dangerous and unstable places — yet they're also often the most powerful agents of change, because the edge is where change is happening; away from the edge, things are naturally unchanging. ~Thom Hartmann

All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume. ~Noam Chomsky

Transition Tools (Basic)

Stoics/Freethought

Local Organic Family Farms

THE SMALL ORGANIC FARM greatly discomforts the corporate/ industrial mind because the small organic farm is one of the most relentlessly subversive forces on the planet. Over centuries both the communist and the capitalist systems have tried to destroy small farms because small farmers are a threat to the consolidation of absolute power.

Thomas Jefferson said he didn’t think we could have democracy unless at least 20% of the population was self-supporting on small farms so they were independent enough to be able to tell an oppressive government to stuff it.

It is very difficult to control people who can create products without purchasing inputs from the system, who can market their products directly thus avoiding the involvement of mercenary middlemen, who can butcher animals and preserve foods without reliance on industrial conglomerates, and who can’t be bullied because they can feed their own faces. ~Eliot Coleman